Page 72 of Unmasking You

“What? Why?” he asks, surprised.

“For Shane and for the foundation.”

“That’s my foundation, and I won’t allow a charity case like you to use it to your advantage,” Mr Campbell says, and I hate that he doesn’t acknowledge Shane even now.

I smirk. “It’s not your foundation anymore. It’s Shane’s. If he wants it.” I turn to look at my lover for a second, and smile at him, then turn back to his father. I love to see his face is going white, as if he’s seen a ghost.

“Shane can’t run your foundation, he works for me.”

“I’m not. I’m resigning now.” He looks at me and I nod, hoping he understands how proud of him I am right now.

I love to see Shane’s face illuminated by a smile, a proud one, because for the first time he’s facing his fears and coming to terms with his regrets.

“If you do this, you’ll no longer be part of the family.”

A snake is always a snake, and that’s what Shane’s father is. That’s a low blow, so I move closer to Shane in my need to protect him from this monster. Instead he stands proud and fearless, and so fucking hot I want to whisk him away so we can do wicked things together.

“I never was part of the family. You made it clear over and over again, every single time I didn’t rise to match your expectations. You know what? I’m tired of not being enough or not being what you want. I am me, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved.” Shane’s gaze lands on me and I don’t like the shame showing on his face. So I walk closer to him and stand at his side, telling him without words that I’m proud of him too.

I’m not denying the bad things that happened between us, but I can’t blame him for doing everything he could to be part of a family he loved and should have loved him.

We will have to work through our past, but I’m sure that with the love we share we’ll make it.

“I’ll strip you of your name.”

“I never wanted it.” He trembles while he says that, so I take his hand in mine, not worrying about what this despicable man will think. I’m past worrying about what others think, and I have enough money to crush him and his company.

“Leave,” Mr Campbell says, his eyes sending daggers my way, and I’ll never be so proud of being hated by someone.

“I’ll take good care of him,” I say to him before closing the door behind me. I look at Shane, and the trembling smile on his lips has me wanting to hug him, not caring about the people surrounding us, but I don’t want our love to be displayed in front of everyone. It’s still so fresh and new that I want to hide it from everyone’s eyes, just in case they ruin it like they did ten years ago.

I jump out of my skin when Shane takes my hand in his, and with his head raised high walks away from his old company, from his family, from his past, and into the future.

A future I swear to make amazing for the both of us.

Epilogue

Jamie

Six months later

I roll the liquid around inside the glass, wondering how long I have to stay so as not to look rude. Glancing around, I watch everyone engaged in conversations, all happy to be here.

I would be happy if it weren’t for the fact that Shane wasn’t next to me. He promised to spend time with me, so here I am, passing time before he shows up.

I let my mind wander to the last six months we’ve spent together. We still have our own places, but Shane spends most of his time at mine, unless he’s busy like today, and then it’s me following him around.

I would never have guessed that Shane was—is—as broken as I am. That horrible day robbed him of his life just as much as it did mine.

Can I say we are no longer broken?

No. I can’t.

There are days when I’m still angry at him because he chose to follow his father’s teachings and have an easy life.

There are other days that we support each other through the difficulties of life.

Then there are those days… the days I love the most, when everything butusseems unimportant. Those days when we love each other like we did ten years ago. No judgment, no fear, and no trauma.

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